Seaborn campaign releases names of VP candidates undergoing "final round" of vetting
Thursday, June 15th, 2022
The Seaborn presidential campaign released the list of seven candidates that were undergoing what spokeswoman Kamiya Williams said was the "final round" of vetting. The unprecedented announcement came after senator Dante Jenkins (D-NJ), one of the 15 candidates the campaign had admitted to having vetted, said on a radio interview yesterday that he had been informed he would not be chosen as Seaborn's running mate by the campaign, kicking off a firestorm of speculation and questioning of the other 14 candidates.
"We have proceeded to the final stage of vetting with these seven great candidates," Williams said, "After this stage, if he hasn't already, President Seaborn will interview each candidate individually and from there, make his decision."
The candidates the campaign announced had made its shortlist consist of:
Gov. Elizabeth Bartlet (NH)
Gov. Jarrod Daniels (MN)
Sen. Alicia DeSantos (FL)
Sen. Andrew Howard (WA)
Sen. Ben Newell (CO)
Sen. Rudi Robinson (IN)
former Gov. Bobby Tyler (VA)
The announcement of a list where a majority of candidates are people of color (DeSantos is Hispanic while Robinson and Tyler are African-American) and/or women (DeSantos and Bartlet) was met with approval by liberal activists and Democratic supporters on social media.
"So gratifying to see @samseaborn listened to us after 2018." one supporter tweeted.
Meanwhile, Republicans and conservatives on Twitter quickly labelled the group "the seven dwarves", saying that none were up to the task of becoming president.
The Duke campaign issued a tweet ("The #7Dwarves include 2 cases of nepotism and 3 diversity hires. What a great example of the Democratic Party!") that some saw as offensive, while the South Carolina Republican Party's account was temporarily suspended by Twitter for reposting a racist meme labelling Robinson and Tyler (the only African-Americans on the list) as "pygmies" while the other candidates were referred to by other derogatory names for diminutive people.